


Safe in their Arms

by Chartslayer



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Implied/Referenced Homophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 10:36:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14162979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chartslayer/pseuds/Chartslayer
Summary: Please know I don't know when I'll be updating this one again, I've got a couple more chapters written but I'm not happy with them. I won't be working on them until I have the motivation to do so, so I don't have a time frame for updates :/Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy. And feel free to leave suggestions or comments, maybe something will come to mind for the next parts of the story :)





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please know I don't know when I'll be updating this one again, I've got a couple more chapters written but I'm not happy with them. I won't be working on them until I have the motivation to do so, so I don't have a time frame for updates :/
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy. And feel free to leave suggestions or comments, maybe something will come to mind for the next parts of the story :)

She never imagined she’d find herself here. ‘Here’ being in front of her girlfriends apartment door; attempting to hold back the sobs threatening to tear out of her as she waits for someone to open the door. She knows that as soon as the door opens they’ll know something is wrong, but she also knows that she’s safe here. Safe from the ridicule of her father, and the endless questioning of her mother. Finally, after what seems like hours, the door swings open, and she meets those crystal blue eyes of the red head she’d fallen head over heels for.

“Hey beaut- what’s wrong? What happened?” And suddenly she can’t hold the sobs back; she lurches forward to collapse in Chloe’s arms. Startled, Chloe stumbles back a bit but manages to regain her balance as she moves to wrap her arms around the sobbing woman in her arms.

“Hey, sshh I’ve got you. You’re okay.” Chloe whispers to her. Chloe starts to move them further into the apartment; calling out for Beca as she does so. She hears footsteps then a sharp intake of breath as Beca takes in the scene before her. Beca is by them in seconds; putting a reassuring hand on the crying girl’s back. She shoots Chloe a questioning look, and Chloe shakes her head letting Beca know she has no idea what is going on.

“Sweetheart, can you tell us what’s happening?” Chloe questions softly. The sobs become louder as she clings to Chloe like a lifeline. Becoming increasingly worried for their girlfriend, Beca gives the shaking woman a once over, looking for injuries.

“Em, are you hurt?” The question receives a shake of the head. Relaxing slightly now that they know there are no injuries that need tended to; the two older women begin to shuffle Emily into the living room. When they reach the couch Chloe attempts to pull back slightly to sit down on the couch, but Emily wraps her arms around Chloe’s waist and pulls her right back refusing to let go. 

“Baby, we’re just gonna sit on the couch okay? I’m not going anywhere.” Emily slowly relents and allows herself to be situated between her girlfriends, and immediately feels two pairs of arms wrap around her and hold her close. They sit there like that, Chloe and Beca giving each other worried looks, as Emily’s heart wrenching sobs fill the apartment. 

Eventually, the sobs turn into occasional sniffles, and Emily wipes at her eyes trying to clear them of the tears. Beca and Chloe remain quiet, knowing Emily will talk to them when she’s ready. Another 10 minutes later Emily has finally calmed enough to tell them what’s going on. 

“I told my parents.” Is all she can manage before another sob rips out, and she’s trying to hold back the tears once more. The two older women tighten their hold on the younger girl, but remain silent; giving Emily time to calm herself again. After another few minutes Emily is able to speak again. “My dad called me a disgrace, and told me to get out of his house.” She starts shaking again, and turns to hide her face in the crook of Chloe’s neck. The older woman holds her close whispering soothing things to her while Beca rubs her back.

Beca isn’t sure how to handle this situation; she’s never been good at comforting others, but she wants to help Emily so she turns to the thing that originally brought them all together. Music. She begins to sing softly to Emily.  
When your legs don’t work they used to before  
And I can’t sweep you off of your feet…

Beca knows it’s probably not the most fitting song for the current situation, but Emily is slowly becoming still in their arms, so she thinks maybe she’s doing okay. 

Emily isn’t really sure why Beca chose this particular song, but her voice is soft and soothing to Emily, and she slowly begins to relax in her girlfriends arms. She finds herself becoming sleepy; drained from the emotional day she’s just had, and she didn’t think she’d be getting any sleep tonight; not after what happened with her parents, but she’s with Chloe and Beca now. She knows she’s safe here; wrapped in their arms. So she allows herself to give in to the fatigue clouding her mind and is asleep within seconds.  
Chloe lifts the girl into her arms and carries her into the bedroom with Beca following close behind. They maneuver Emily into the middle of the bed, and lie down on either side of her wrapping their arms around her again. Emily turns to bury her head into Beca’s chest, and Chloe adjusts herself so that she’s spooning Emily. Beca and Chloe don’t say anything yet. They really aren’t sure what to say. They both know that the next few days are going to be tough for Emily, but for now she’s asleep, and they soon find themselves joining her in a peaceful slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

When Chloe wakes the next morning, it’s to her alarm. She quickly silences the blaring object, and lies there for a few more minutes wishing she could go back to sleep. But she eventually gets out of bed and heads to the bathroom to get ready for work.

She re-enters the bedroom after showering, and notices that Beca is no longer in bed. Chloe quickly gets dressed for the day, and heads to the kitchen; where she knows Beca is most likely making coffee. She’s surprised when she enters the small kitchen to see Beca making pancakes. In the two years that they’ve been dating Chloe has learned that Beca is an exceptional cook, but she rarely makes breakfast; preferring instead to make dinner.

“Morning.” Chloe says, walking up behind Beca and wrapping her arms around the brunette. Beca turns her head to give Chloe a quick kiss then turns back to the stove. She flips the pancakes on the stove then turns in Chloe’s arms.

“What are we going to do?” Not wanting to put the conversation off; Beca gets right to what is on both of their minds this morning. The red head is silent for a few minutes trying to decide how to respond.

“How about you finish breakfast, and that way we can talk without distractions.” She finally says. Beca agrees and turns to finish the pancakes; adding chocolate chips to the last few because she knows they’re Emily’s favorite. When she’s done she gets two plates ready for Chloe and herself then puts the rest in the oven to keep them warm for Emily. The two eat in silence for a few minutes; both trying to decide what they can do to make things easier for Emily.   
Chloe finally decides to bite the bullet and asks, “Would you be okay with her moving in with us?” Beca knew this was a definite possibility, and she knew her answer before the red head even brought it up.

“Of course,” she says “We were already thinking about asking; this is just speeding up the process.” Chloe is surprised by this response; she thought Beca was still on the fence about asking Emily to move in, but apparently she was mistaken.

“Okay, well that gives her one less thing to worry about right now.” The two aren’t sure where to go from there, so they finish their breakfast in silence. After they’re both finished and the dishes are in the sink, Chloe grabs her bag, and gets ready to head to work.

“Try to keep her distracted as much as possible today.” Chloe instructs as she gives Beca a brief kiss before leaving. Beca responds that she will, and tells Chloe to have a good day. And then Chloe is gone, and Beca is left alone to wait for Emily to wake up. By the time Emily emerges from the bedroom Beca has cleaned up the kitchen, and settled at the dining table with her laptop to work on some mixes.

“Good morning.” Emily says quietly, not wanting to startle the DJ. Beca looks up and gives Emily a warm smile; the one she only shows around Chloe and Emily. The older woman gets up, and greets Emily with a kiss and heads over to the oven to pull the pancakes out. She tells Emily to sit down while she moves around the kitchen; getting Emily’s breakfast for her. Emily thanks Beca when she sets the plate in front of her, and quietly begins eating. They sit in silence while Emily eats, and Beca can see the tension in Emily’s shoulders; the way she stiffens every couple of minutes, and Beca knows that Emily is fighting tears again with the way her breath hitches as she tries to keep her breathing even.

“It’s okay to cry sweetheart.” And that’s all it takes for Emily to break. It’s not as bad as last night; the sobs are quieter, and somehow sound more controlled to Beca. But it still breaks her heart to see her girlfriend this way, and she suddenly wants to rip the idiots that did this to her to pieces, but she knows that that isn’t what Emily needs right now. What Emily needs is to be comforted; to be told that everything is going to be okay.

“C’mere.” Beca says as she walks around the table to where the crying girl is sitting; it’s clear that she won’t be finishing her breakfast anytime soon, so Beca takes her hand and leads her back into the bedroom. They lie down together; Emily snuggling into Beca’s side as she tries to control her tears. Beca can tell the girl wants to talk, but isn’t calm enough to do so, so Beca holds her close and soothingly rubs her back; waiting for Emily to be able to speak.

“How could he say that?” Emily says eventually. And it catches Beca off guard; she wasn’t expecting that to be the first thing out of the younger girl’s mouth, but Beca supposes she should’ve known that’d be what she wanted to know. Unfortunately, Beca doesn’t have an answer for her.

“I don’t know Em. I don’t know, but it’ll be okay. I promise you it’ll be okay.” Emily is looking at her like she doesn’t believe her, and Beca doesn’t blame her. She attempts to soothe the girl’s worries further, “I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but it will be okay eventually. And until it is okay, Chlo and I’ll be right here with you to help you be okay again.” And there’s a slight tilt to the corners of Emily’s mouth for a second before it disappears again.

“My mom didn’t defend me.” And the older woman tenses for a second, her mind immediately going to the worst possibly scenario at the word ‘defend’. But a second later, Emily is speaking again, and Beca relaxes just slightly. “He was saying such horrible things to me, and she just stood there.” She’s shaking again, so Beca pulls her impossibly closer and holds the girl while she tries to calm herself again.

“You don’t have to talk now, honey. We can wait for Chloe to get home, and we can just relax and try to forget until then okay?” Emily nods and relaxes slightly into the embrace. They lie there for an hour before Emily moves again. Beca, having thought the girl fell asleep, jumps slightly when the younger woman speaks.

“Can I take a shower?” Emily timidly asks. Beca can’t understand why the girl is suddenly so shy, but decides to let it go for now as she nods.

“Of course you can. You know where everything is. I’ll get you some clothes to change into okay? Call me if you need anything.” Emily nods, and gets off the bed and heads toward the bathroom. Beca watches her leave, and gets up when she’s out of sight to get dressed and find some clothes for Emily. She goes to the bathroom after she hears the shower turn on, and sets the clothes on the bathroom counter for Emily. She then heads into the living room to occupy herself with her mixes while she waits for the younger woman to finish her shower. 

Thirty minutes later Beca notices the shower is still running; she begins to worry because in the 7 months they’ve been together she’s never known Emily to take more than fifteen minutes in the shower. The small brunette gets up and walks up to the bathroom door. Knocking softly she calls Emily’s name; the response she receives is a choked sob erupting from the other side of the door. She knocks once more, this time slightly louder, and enters the bathroom. The sight that welcomes her makes her already aching heart crack just a bit more.

Emily is curled into a ball in the corner of the shower; the young woman looks so small and vulnerable. Beca cautiously walks toward her girlfriend; not wanting to startle the already upset brunette. When she reaches the tub she briefly feels the water; immediately retracting her hand when she feels how cold it is. She quickly turns the water off, and that’s when Emily finally notices her and the girl’s cries become even louder as she realizes there’s no point trying to stay quiet now. Beca steps closer and reaches over toward Emily. As soon as her hand touches Emily’s shoulder the sobbing woman shrinks further into herself. The brief touch that Beca managed was enough for her to know that Emily is freezing cold, and Beca is glad she opted to find a sweatshirt and sweat pants for the girl to wear.

“Em, baby, I know you’re upset right now, but I need to get you warmed up okay? I’m going wrap a towel around you, and help you out now.” The girl doesn’t respond, but allows Beca to pull her out of the tub and begin to dry her off. When Beca finally gets her dressed she begins to walk backward; holding the other girls hands coaxing her forward. She brings Emily to the couch and pulls her down into her lap; grabbing a blanket off the back off the couch and wrapping the still cold woman in it. Emily leans into Beca, but still makes no move to speak. Emily has stopped crying for now, so Beca is content just holding her girlfriend and trying to warm her up.

A while later, Emily is warm again, and Beca finally decides to try to get the girl to speak. “What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?” Emily makes an attempt to respond, but her voice is muffled by Beca’s shoulder. Beca lifts her head up and asks her to repeat what she said.

“I don’t know where I’m supposed to go if he really isn’t going to let me go home.” Beca pauses for a moment; thinking maybe she should wait for Chloe to speak to Emily about this, but the girl is clearly distressed so Beca thinks that it’s okay to say it now.

“You can move in with us.” Emily looks at Beca, and then she looks away; shaking her head.

“No. I don’t want to intrude on you and Chlo. That isn’t fair to either of y-“

“What isn’t fair is your idiot of a father kicking you out.” Beca cuts Emily off fiercely, and the girl’s eyes instantly fill with tears. Beca mentally chastises herself for her statement. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. But you will not be intruding on Chloe and me. We want you here with us. We’ve been thinking about asking you to move in for about a month now. We even have a key for you already.” Emily is quiet for a while; making Beca worry she’ll reject the offer again. Thankfully, she nods and leans into Beca’s embrace again. 

“Okay, but we’re discussing this again when Chloe gets home.” Beca silently agrees, and the two settle on the couch to relax, and listen to music until their other girlfriend returns from work.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are a flashback and a section where homophobia is present.

Four hours later, Beca wakes at the sound of the door closing. She tries to gently move a sleeping Emily from her lap, but the young woman tightens her hold on the DJ; effectively keeping Beca in place. Chloe enters the living room, and smiles at the sight before her.

“Hey, how’d it go?” She questions. Beca glances at the girl in her lap to make sure she’s still asleep before responding.

“Not great, but she’s been sleeping for the past four hours, so I guess it could’ve been worse.” Emily jumps slightly, and bolts upright nearly smacking her head on Beca’s as she does so.

“Whoa, hey. You’re okay.” Chloe says gently, placing her hand on the girls shoulder.

“Sorry.” Emily mumbles, glancing down before looking back up at Chloe. The red head smiles softly, and leans down to kiss each of her girlfriends.

“It’s okay. How are you feeling?” Emily gives a shrug of her shoulders, and remains quiet. Chloe wants to question her further, but she doesn’t want to upset the girl again so instead she suggests they get pizza for dinner. Both brunettes agree, and Beca moves to call Emily’s favorite pizza place. While the tiny brunette is on the phone, Emily moves into Chloe’s arms and cuddles into her side. She knows that she’ll need to tell her girlfriends what happened with her parents soon, so she figures it’ll be better to just get it over with.

“My mom wasn’t as upset as my dad.” She begins when Beca has finished on the phone. The two older women give Emily their undivided attention waiting for her to continue. “I told her before my dad got home, and she just seemed surprised. Then she said as long as you make me happy then that’s all that matters.” Emily pauses, drawing in a deep breath to prepare herself for the next part of the story. “When my dad got home we all sat down in the kitchen, and I told him that I was gay. He seemed okay with it, so I added that I was dating both of you and that’s when he lost it.” A choked sob makes its way up Emily’s throat, and she has to stop to calm herself down before she can continue. Her girlfriends keep their arms firmly around her, and whisper soothing things in her ear while they wait for her to go on. Eventually, she’s able to continue, so she braces herself and finishes telling them what happened.

_"_ _WHAT?” He roars, standing swiftly, knocking his chair back in the process. He rushes to Emily’s side, and glares down at her. She tries not to shrink back, but she’s never seen him so angry._

_“I’m dating Chloe and Beca.” She repeats, failing to hide the tremor in her voice. Her dad takes a step back; looking like he’s trying to control his anger._

_“No,” He says “No. It’s bad enough that you think you’re gay. I will not have those disgusting women brain washing you further.” Emily looks up at her father with defiance shining in her eyes. She’s not sure where this sudden burst of courage comes from, but she thinks maybe it has something to do with what he just called her girlfriends._

_“They aren’t brain washing me. I love them, and I’m not going to stop seeing them.”_

_“You are a disgrace to this family, and until you fix yourself you are not welcome in this house. I expect you to be gone in five minutes.” He storms away; leaving his daughter and wife alone in the kitchen. Emily looks over at her mother, who has remained silent since they entered the kitchen, with questioning eyes._

_“I think it’d be best if you left for a while, so he can cool down.” Her mother says; avoiding eye contact. And Emily feels her already cracked heart shatter. She stands quickly and rushes out of the house; not wanting to hear anymore from either of her parents._

“And I came straight here.” She finishes. The three sit in silence for a few minutes, neither of the older girls knowing what to say at the moment. There is a knock on their door, and Beca moves to answer it. A couple minutes later she returns with the pizza and a stack of napkins. Chloe and Beca give Emily a reassuring smile before beginning to eat. The youngest brunette makes no move to get a slice of pizza though, so Beca sets hers down before turning to face her younger girlfriend.

“Hey, I know everything sucks right now. And honestly, it probably will for a while,” Chloe shoots Beca a look that tells her she does not agree with the brunettes choice of words. “But like I said earlier, Chlo and I are gonna be right here with you, and we’re gonna do everything we can to make it okay again.”

“And you’re moving in with us.” Chloe adds when Beca finishes. Emily turns to look at the red head, and Chloe isn’t sure what the expression on the brunettes face means which makes her think maybe she shouldn’t have said it like that. But then Emily is smiling for the first time since she showed up at their door, and she throws her arms around Chloe.

“I wasn’t sure you actually wanted me here.” There’s a slight tremble to her voice, and had it been anyone else they wouldn’t have noticed it, but Chloe does. Chloe always does. The red head tightens her grip on Emily.

“Of course we want you here. We’ll always want you with us.” Beca mumbles her agreement, and the other two separate. All three begin eating, and when they’re done they all help clean up the mess before returning to the couch. They spend the rest of the evening lounging around; watching TV, and listening to music.

Emily knows that nothing is okay right now, and it probably won’t be anytime soon. But sitting here with her girlfriends, smiling at her red heads ridiculous dancing and laughing at her DJ’s terrible jokes, she finds herself believing Beca’s words. It really does suck right now, but it’ll be okay eventually.


End file.
